Signs of Life is a sci-fi survival sandbox platformer with a combination of procedurally generated and hand-crafted content. You'll explore mysterious locations, Mine blocks for resources, and meet strange (and some familiar) creatures, some of which don't even want to kill you and eat your corpse.

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Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you
should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

Hvad udviklerne har at sige:

Why Early Access?

“We wanted to get our game in the hands of as many people as possible, as soon as possible. We are a tiny team with no budget, so Early Access will allow us to think longer-term, and ultimately deliver a better game.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Until we finish the content we have planned for the 1.0 release. We can't give you an ETA at this point, as we're still quite far from being finished.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The full version will have more content, a complete, satisfying narrative and less bugs. What we have in the current Early Access build is a solid foundation, but now our job is to expand on that content in order to finish the game. At some point between now and release, we are also planning on implementing online co-op multiplayer.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current Early Access version of Signs of Life is very playable and stable. What we have now is a solid experience, although it has only a portion of the planned total content.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We have no plans to change the price between now and release.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“In any way we can. We're active on the Steam forums, and we love getting feedback from the community. The more you guys get involved and tell us what we're doing wrong the better the game is sure to get. We take criticism well, so don't be shy =)”

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27. februar

Update time, yay! Got some fun new toys and features for you folks, let us know if you run into any issues. We changed the way the static lighting works a bit (with torches, etc) so let us know if you notice any reduction in performance. As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts, so don't be shy and let us know what you think in the comments =)

New Content

Added the teleporter project! Build two, set them to the same symbol and instantly transport yourself (and anything inside the teleporter) across the world.

Added a deployable turret! It loads 9mm ammo and must be retracted to pick it up. Prevents mob spawning nearby.

Added cursor icons when hovering over things. Let us know if you notice things that we missed that you think should have cursors.

Fixed some issues with the medium and large fonts.

Gameplay Changes

Added reload animation to grenade launchers.

Reduced regeneration salve effect by half, it was pretty overpowered considering you could use 2 and combine it with the health regen from being well fed.

Doubled energy regen per step of kinetic inductor

Bug Fixes

Changed saving method for player inventory, should be backwards compatible but let us know if you notice any missing items or anything like that.

Disabled connection to local server by default, may cause issues so let us know if you have problems dropping items, things not working as expected, etc. This should fix the issue for people who were having problems dropping items.

Changing font with a dialogue box open will now properly resize the dialogue box.

Changed static lighting system (torches, etc) to hopefully be a bit more optimized. Should result in fewer hitches with lots of static lights, let us know if you see a reduction in performance.

27. januar

Hey folks, I have a small update for ya. Normally I'd hold off until we had a more substantial update ready, but we found a bug with the item details that would occasionally cause items to get removed when you attempted to split a stack so we went ahead and pushed out what we had so far. We also made some balance changes to picks and guns which should make fighting armored creatures a bit less annoying, but we may still need to raise their health amounts to make up for the change, so let us know what you think.

New Content

Added a trash container that holds deleted items until you leave the game. This should be useful if you accidentally delete an item.

UI Changes

You should no longer open the key item pouch through other containers when you right click

Fixed some graphical weirdness with equipping items in the MEG menu with right click

Gameplay Changes

You can now dig multiple background blocks simultaneously with the proper upgrades (Meant to be in the last update, but its here now!)

Om dette spil

Signs of Life is a sci-fi survival sandbox platformer with a combination of procedurally generated and hand-crafted content. You'll explore mysterious locations, Mine blocks for resources, and meet strange (and some familiar) creatures, some of which don't even want to kill you and eat your corpse. Along the way, you'll be able to craft armor, weapons, gadgets and more to assist you in surviving in an inhospitable environment.

Story

Sensing that an apocalyptic war was imminent, the United Nations executed a last ditch plan to save what they could of the human race. 2 crafts were launched, a massive colony ship called the Hephaestus and a smaller, faster scout ship called the Hermes. The destination was a recently discovered earth-like planet with the potential to harbor life located roughly 18 light years away. The Hermes reached the planet first in order to establish a presence in anticipation of the arrival of the Hephaestus.

4 years later, as the Hephaestus approached its destination a faint signal was detected from a nearby asteroid. Against their better judgement, the crew of the Hephaestus decided to investigate, and in doing so set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately lead to their destruction.

The good news is, you managed to survive by hitching a ride on a small escape pod just in the nick of time. The bad news is, everyone you knew and loved is dead, you have nothing but the clothes on your back, a standard issue multi-function wrist laser and a faulty artificial intelligence companion named AGIS. Oh, and the human race is probably doomed.

Probably.

Features

An expansive world with procedurally generated and hand-crafted content.

A bunch of weird alien creatures.

Some familiar creatures.

Chickens.

Mining, hunting, gathering.

Gobs of ores, materials and animal organs you can use to...

Craft all kinds of weapons, armor, gadgets, furniture, etc.

A bit of story and lore to hold the whole thing together.

Eggs.

Current State of Development

Signs of Life is currently in Alpha. We feel like we've put together a fun, satisfying experience that will allow us to get wider feedback while we complete the rest of the game.

Right now our first priority is making sure that the content we have in-game is as bug-free, balanced, polished and fun as possible based on feedback from you folks. Our second priority is working on the co-op online multiplayer, which we have been working on since day one, but we don't feel is ready for prime time. In addition to those priorities, we'll be adding content to the game regularly as we finish fleshing out the game. We have a significant prologue/tutorial planned, as well as significant content beyond what is currently playable, so the sooner you get involved the more of an effect you'll have on the final game.

We are still very much in development, and we would like you to join us in shaping the game from here on out. Your feedback is vital to us, so don't be shy =)

Caveats/Issues

Multiplayer is not yet implemented, but we have been working on it since the beginning and it is our next major milestone.

Some sound effects are missing, but we are actively working on filling them in.

My interest was first peaked when I saw Survival with Aliens, so I thought I'd have a quick peak at the game. What I thought was 30 mins of my time was actually 3 hours!

This game is very addictive and you get sucked right in to the game. One of the cool things I ended up doing was crafting a Bow & Arrow, then creating walls for a penn where I could just take out animals from a distance to collect materials.

It took me a while to realise, but holding the mouse wheel down to collect items IS AN ABSOLUTE GODSEND! Thankyou for putting that in!!

I'm still trying to figure out if I can install some basic lighting in my mud house at this stage (for night time, which is pitch-black), but as a bottom line comment...

... If you like sandbox vs survival vs aliens and you don't mind every hour of your life feeling like 5 minutes, then you must try this game.

This game has great potential. No regrets with my $9 trial fee. Currently very low on content but still offering between 15-30 hours of entertainment. New content always trickling in. Brand new teleporter really cool! ...but world so small it is not all that big a time saver.

SOL offers an immersive experience as a whole, even at the early access stage. There's the added benefit of super active and responsive developers, and lightning fast discussion and implementation of bug fixes and user concerns.

All in all, it's my current favorite in the genera, well worth the price, and promises to continue on as an enthralling game with high replayability and hours of enjoyment.

"Controls are disgusting.the text is too small to read easily.and in general I am less then impressed"

this was my initial take on this game but since I posted this the developer has asked me questions about my experiances and has been incredibly helpful. if a single man can take the time to do this why can't our AAA titles?

TL;DR: Contains a lot of unique ideas for Early Access, but progression via trial-and-error is prevalent.

Inevitably, Signs of Life is going to get compared to Minecraft, Terraria, Edge of Space and Starbound for being a sandbox game where you build up your shelter and arsenal from scratch. However it's got enough unique features and ideas for being Early Access that a $10 pricetag can be justified.

Pros:-Developer(s) is/are responsive.-Many small details in the game. (hit detection and headshots, boots boost kicking damage, basic metallurgy, etc.)-Very clean and pleasing art style. (crisp detail in the foreground; soft detail in the background)-Armors aren't linearly better or worse. (i.e. damage reflection V.S. mobility V.S. energy regen)-Organization is very easy and convenient with crafting worktables, container placement and sets of material pouches.-Your wrist-attached "MEG tool" is versatile. (light, mapping, ore-scanning, mining, collecting) and convenient-Most enemies are exploitable in some way. (again, your MEG tool is versatile)-Achievement hunting is amusing. ('Me Time')-Saving and exiting leaves you exactly where you were on that world and character.

Neutrals:-Currently no intro/tutorial feature, but it's planned; once implemented, should help players with game progression.-Fairly strong "grind" factor (a love/hate relationship, I'm sure) comparable to Minecraft. Not as rough as it used to be, once you get your hands on mining upgrades for your MEG tool.-The music isn't terrible, but it isn't terrific either. Probably a matter of personal taste on this one.

Cons:-As of this review, overall weak Wikia and Steam guide support, requiring players to figure most things out by themselves.-Locational progression is confusing at first.-No "Trash Can" slot to recover deleted items from, creating the potential to completely delete items by accident.FIXED!-Ranged options are weak and/or expensive until late-game.Crossbows, bows and energy weapons are actually nice and not too difficult to obtain/keep filled, but I still shy away from ammo-consuming guns because sulphur's an uncommon, non-renewable resource.-No liquids in the world whatsoever.-By default, font size is a little small and Auto Run isn't on.-Some details are too small and require squinting at.

Through making some poor choices, I've learned to be incredibly specious of Early Access games. I've purchased quite a few that have looked promising (and even WERE promising), only to find my initial investment squandered due to the developer(s) not following up on their initial design ideas, or, in two cases, all but abandoning their game completely.

To add to that anecdote, I never caught the "Minecraft bug." I'm not very artistic, so the idea of an open world where you just GO did not appeal to me. Terraria approached the middle ground that I could see myself enjoying, but this...

Signs of Life is my mecca.

There are some very unique, well thought-out aspects of the game that really lend to helping it carve out its own identity in the mire of "sandbox" games that have been popping up as of late. From the clever M.E.G. tool that you use to collect resources, to the trial-and-error method of discovering new items to craft, Signs of Life very aptly toes the line between being accessible to the player and patronizing them.

As you progress throughout the game, the developers have managed to create an atmosphere of discovery that is almost completely organic: the more you do and the more you explore, the more you will learn. That being said, there are a few aspects of the crafting system that aren't very intuitive (@Devs: perhaps a classification system for certain items could help new players to know what can and can't be used as fuel). This is, of course, where the Early Access part of the game comes in, and community involvement is a crucial part.

The developers are, thankfully, not at all like those mentioned at the beginning of this review. I have seen developer responses within the *HOUR* of an issue becoming known on the forums, and that in and of itself is one damned impressive feat.

IN CLOSING:

+ Wonderful art design; color schemes are fantastic+ The soundtrack is haunting, hypnotizing, and cathartic+ Excellent flow in the crafting system, save for a few bumps here and there+ The world is alive and makes you naturally want to explore

- Some clipping issues in the terrain (my head would get stuck in 99% of cases)- Dodge / roll mechanic can be bothersome when trying to make minute adjustments in positioning- Overlapping inventory system DRIVES ME ABSOLUTELY BANANA SANDWICH I WILL TYPE IN ALL CAPS FOR THIS- (This last point isn't a negative, but it is because I want more story, please.)

A spectacular game so far with plenty of content despite it's early access status.I only have a few minor issues, in which I will state them in the questions I have for the developer(s) in hopes of having them answered1. Will there be more diverse terrain generation in the future? Such as curved/diagonal blocks for easy terrain navigation, as it's tedious to continuously place blocks to get to higher spots.2. Will there be character wipes in the future to make room for updates?3. Will the game eventually have an "ending" or do you intend to make it free-roam for as long as the player wants?

That's all I have, TL;DR this game is worth it's 10$ price tag.My rating is at least a 9/10

At first glance, Signs of Life looks like another shameless "blocky sandbox pickaxe terrria/minecraft ripoff" to be tossed on top of the ever growing pile of said games. Yet, while only being single player, it does a lot more than other titles trying to cash in on this theme.This game does a fine job standing on its own in this theme, though like everything in beta, it has its own share of problems

While the game does a lot right, I feel like the game doesn't know what its doing with itself, as if its trying to be a comedy, and yet take itself seriously. I can't help but feel like the developers were trying to achieve that quirky balance borderlands 2 does so very well. The game unfortunately the game never captures this balance, and instead falls flat on its face with its story.It however does do an outstanding job with the crafting system, and the many gadgets you can make with it.

The game has you start off landing on an unknown planet with minimal survival equipment, the clothes on your back, and an AI partner with terrible dialog. You then set off to explore the planet, looking for equipment, useful materials and as the name of the game suggests, signs of life.The top of the world looks like Willy Wonka exploded, painting everything in bright colors: its cheery, safe, and it counteracts the rest of the game in terms of atmosphere. Dig down, or explore one of the abandoned stations at night, and the atmosphere does a complete 180 degree turn. The atmosphere is dark, dank, empty, and devoid of all human life. As you explore deeper, the atmosphere of the game gets even more creepy, with alien tentacles raining acid on you, floating sacks of puss that explode, and large vicious looking aliens with scythes for legs. The further you go down, the more dangerous it feels, the atmosphere does a very good job of this.

Unfortunately the storyline can't seem to latch onto what the atmosphere does, and write a compelling narrative to motivate the player into finding out what happened on this planet.Instead the storyline tries to play it silly, inside of a dark, unlit station, with human corpses strung about.

You find E-readers in these stations, with some of the articales writen in them hint at where items of interest to you can be found. However, you will mostly be reading about some doctor acting erratically (the game tells you he is afflicted with "Space Madness") and as a result, everyone around him, including his CO's, are implenting EXTREME measures to keep the space madness doctor from rifing through their property.

(minor spoiler here) One such example was the leader of the installation, She finds good doctor madness combing through her pantie drawer. Instead of sticking the guy behind bars until they can send him into the place with padded walls, she demotes his access, then processes to bury the device that promotes keycard access, several hundred meters underground, just for the hell of it.(end of spoiler)

Your only form of story content besides the e-readers, is your partner AI, AGIS.AGIS is suppose to be malfunctioning, and yet, he says nothing you'd think an AI would actually say. He constantly makes useless comments that help in no way, and when he does actually say something somewhat useful, you've already tuned him out. He's basically a watered down, forgettable version of claptrap attached to your wrist. Hes annoying, but you can forget about him, so that makes him slightly better than claptrap?

Where the game actually shines is the use of the M.E.G. your wrist mounted multi tool. This thing is sweet, and actually puts all the other multitools you see in other games of this theme to shame. It functions as your map, your scanner used for updating your map, an autolooter, and of course, placing and breaking objects and blocks. All of these functions can be upgraded to improve them even further, everything besides AGIS that is... Honestly, all this thing needs is a blade attachment and it'd put the omni-tool in Mass Effect to shame.

The crafting is very strong here, making use of resources constantly. In Terraria, theres a point where you stop gathering copper, because you have no more use for copper, unless you maded to make a copper castle, using copper blocks. Here, copper and most everything else constantly has a use, so your always gathering for everything.

Guns felt kind of lack luster, the game makes you jump through hoops to get your first real gun besides the 9mm pistol, and most later on enemies are resistant to your bullets. The Laser gun was my go to weapon, as it could kill anything, although waiting on your energy to recharge was a ♥♥♥♥♥, but you never truly ran dry, where as bullets actually use materials.

All in all, I enjoyed the game, even though when I played it, there was no final boss fight, or at least I couldn't find one. My only worry is that they keep rolling with the shallow storyline, and make the final events of the game lackluster, making you feel like you wasted your time, as a bad ending has that effect.

Conclusion:

Pros:- Strong crafting system.- Lots of interesting materials to scavange.- The M.E.G. Tool does an outstanding job for its intended use, as a multi-tool.- Enemies look interesting, and later ones look imposing.- Loads of weapons to choose from.- Certain areas of the game deliver an erie atmosphere, supporting the actual title of the game.- Graphics, while looking the part of a flash game, actually do a pretty good job.- The inventory system is reminiscent of the old Ultima games, which I love. The autosort works very well.- Retrieveable arrows and bolts.

Cons:- No Multiplayer- Weak storyline (its a bigger deal, brought by the fact of the first con, no multiplayer.)- Gunplay doesn't feel very rewarding, since you need to scavange for both the materials to make the gun itself, and its ammo. You are more likely to use ranged weapons with retrievable ammo such as bows and crossbows, or weapons that use your energy.- AGIS has to be some sort of spawn from claptrap- Lack of boss fights (though it is still in beta)- Lack of tutorial on how your M.E.G. is upgraded.

Final verdict: Would recommend, but only to those who can't get enough sandbox, blockfest, diamond pickaxe goodness.If you are tired of these games being perpetually in beta such as *cough* Starbound *cough*, then stay away until 1.0.

A great game with lots of terraria/starbound(ish) concepts. I've had lots of fun with this, however i've got just one complaint.Please fix the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ spawn caps for animals/neutral mobs on the surface... Every time I leave my house for 10 seconds I come back to find a friggin swarm of those blue-flying things smashing their heads into my door. So If I open the door, of course the house gets flooded with them.Or when I'm trying to do a simple task outside like cut down a tree, or mine a block, something always has to get in the way and get hit and then get pissed off at me and attack me.Overall it's a fun game, it could just use a bit of multiplayer, and fixed spawns for animals.

Compared to other games I've played, Signs of Life is both more simplistic, and more complex. Simpler in that construction of a base doesn't take 5 days, and that hordes of enemies are, while a possibility, not likely to simply turn into a never-ending swarm that'll override any defensive measures in a couple minutes.

The complexity comes from the mid and late-game (for now) crafting, where you need to use literally every crafting station/system you have on hand to build things like the rocket launcher or the Jewel Bow. Even some of the earlier recipes can take 4 or 5 differing components to make, and at least 2 crafting stations to make the parts in the first place.

Honestly, I don't find it a problem. I find it a nice change of pace from the more "grind it til you have it" tendency of more than a few other games (World of Warcraft, for example.).

My only real issues stem from just how much digging you're apt to do just to get enough resources to build that fancy Material Printer or that last box of rockets.

I would rate this game a 9/10 as it is, if only because the game is incomplete.

This game is like Starbound, but it's far more grindy (right now, soon to be better balanced). I've already spent enough time into the game to notice that the threats are almost non-existent (aside from the bosses which currently can be exploited). Armor currently just feels optional. Getting ores takes forever currently, but again, the dev says it'll be improved next update. Mining with a pickaxe is a bit clunky cuz it requires so much space, so you're likely to use the MEG tool which can also be upgraded to be superior in digging speeds anyways.

Overall, it's an interesting new game with new ideas and everything, but it being in early access, it's just not quite there yet with the finished games which compete with this game.

EDIT: I'm giving this review a thumbs up based on the dev's replies here and in Steam Discussions. The dev communicates with us all the time and is very appreciative of suggestions and feedback unlike most other game devs out there. Also, I do see this game being an awesome game, potentially even better than all the competitors out there.

I love all kind of crafting style games and well i saw this game a time ago and well it did not look that interesting. Well i stumbled again on this game and this time i looked some videos from youtube and i got interested and bought the game.

I was pretty surprised that this game was this good and considering its still early access. I did play terraria and starbound that are closest games that you can compare to this. But for some reason this feels a bit better somehow. Signs of life tryes to do things a bit its own way and not copying straight from similiar games and seems its a good thing because it feels a bit better.

I like that this game is more scifi oriented and not much of fantasy at all and i hope it stays that way.

Crafting system is very easy to use and it got categories and a search button that i have to use a lot. Lots of items need other crafted items so thats where search comes handy. Could be easier if there was possibility like double click on the required items on the crafting recipe so you could jump straight to making those and skip the search button that way.

One thing more thing i like about the crafting is that when you find new resources lets say a new ore you learn recipes when you pick it up. Nice way to avoid confusion with massive recipe list at the start.

It took me around 20 hours maybe to go trough about everything the game has to offer at this point. There are tough some stuff i still could get and will because it's hard not to play this game. There is just something that pulls into this game.

But its not perfect game tough, it got bugs. I've stumbled on two so far, one was game crashing upon death. I've not died in a long time now so not sure if that issue is still in game. Second i found was that splitting items from a stack makes the whole stack gone all together. Other than that it worked pretty well.

Can't think of much more negative to say other than its not finished and need more content in the game. If you like terraria and starbound i think this should be one to keep an eye on.